St. Maarten to receive NAf. 32.6M in Dutch liquidity support soon

PHILIPSBURG - Government will soon receive NAf. 32.6 million as liquidity support to ensure that it meets its obligations for the remainder of the year, now that Finance Minister Perry Geerlings has signed the national ordinance and loan agreement with the Netherlands.

Geerlings co-signed the national ordinance on September 28 based on the authority given to him through the Parliament of St. Maarten to enter into a loan agreement. The document, also signed by Governor Eugene Holiday, has been forwarded to The Hague. It is anticipated that the funds will be transferred into St. Maarten’s account in the Central Bank of Curaçao and St. Maarten within a week.

The Kingdom Council of Ministers in the Hague in July approved St. Maarten’s request for liquidity support for the year 2018. Once the notice of approval was received, Geerlings immediately initiated discussions with Dutch State Secretary for Home Affairs and Kingdom Relations Raymond Knops to discuss funding details.

Knops said after a recent Kingdom Council of Ministers session that he wants to explore the possibilities of having future tranches of liquidity support for St. Maarten come from the Trust Fund being managed by the World Bank.

In reaction, Geerlings said, “My position is that if there are any talks with the World Bank where liquidity support is concerned I would like to be involved from the start to prevent any misunderstanding.”

This will form part of the discussions to be held when Geerlings meets with Knops in The Hague in October.